The demand for improved audio and video entertainment has moved beyond the home and is now prevalent in the automotive space. New entertainment systems are one of the hottest trends in the automotive marketplace. Automotive entertainment systems have become as sophisticated as home theater systems. Consequently, automobile occupants have access to rich sounding audio and Internet-based applications through complex entertainment systems. Moreover, engineering and material improvements make the automobile cabin fairly insulated from external sounds such as road noise.
Sophisticated audio systems of the automotive entertainment systems provide high-quality audio that can be enjoyed occupants in the relatively quiet environment of the automobile cabin. However, these same enhancements to audio enjoyment in an automobile also prevent a driver from hearing noises external to the car. While some of these noises may be insignificant environment noise, others may include important emergency signals that a driver should be able to detect and respond accordingly. Thus, drivers are becoming increasingly unable when driving to readily detect and adapt to external warning signals—such as fire, police, or medical sirens and alarms.